Bogleheads.org

The exact reverse could have been said for 1995-2000. Would that have meant you change to 100% stocks and 0% bonds in 2000?

Has anyone else noted how poorly EM (VWO) has performed compared to DIA in the past 1yr, 3yr time-frame. The last time I remember EM performing so poorly, they came roaring back. Similar thing is noticed for VSS vs US small cap. I can't find a good vehicle for EM small cap (apart from DFA which I do...

livesoft,

My primary reason to fund using 529 versus normal cash flow is the possible means to have earnings which will not be taxed (if used for education). Is there something wrong in my thinking? Please let me know.

It is difficult to estimate how much my kids will need for education when they are ready. They are 9 and 4 right now. I have funded ~50K for the 4 yr old and ~80K for the 9 year old over the years. Or to put it more correctly, I have ~130K for 2 kids education. Does it make sense to continue investi...

MallNinja wrote:t high expense ratio of LSBDX (loomis sayles bond) ??

Yes, I should move it but haven't found a good place. Seems like the best bond fund in my choices

Sammy_M wrote:You should list all the options available within your 401K plans

Done with edits in original post

Hoping I can get some input on my situation.. Would like to simplify/improve my Portfolio since everything is so spread out. Emergency funds = 1yr ( ally bank, wellsfargo, provident. basically earning very little interest) Total assets in the 7 figure range. Debt: Just the mortgage, balance of $460k...

pkstack
(a) I live about 2hr from nearest dive site - monterey, CA which really isn't tropical but they say has good marine life
(b) I will be doing a PADI certified class.

Hi I have been debating whether to take on scuba diving as a hobby. 41yr old male with 2 kids. tried a trial class where they take u into the pool and liked it a lot. the full class is couple of weekends after which they take u into the ocean for 2 dives with an instructor. uptil now pretty cheap ~5...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opini ... d=tw-share

In line with most people's viewpoint here. Underindulge and spend on experiences....

I was looking at this years tax forms. My broker (Wellsfargo) sent a 2011 enhanced 1099. In that he listed the long term gain and losses (1099B) for securities I had purchased before 2010. However he also put an asterix, saying the cost basis will not be reported to IRS since its a non-covered secur...

Hi, I am getting confused with mortgage rate math. --------------------- My initial re-fi was 420K at 3.375% (15 yr). Payment = 2976.79 Right now I am at 390K on my principal My broker said he can do 3.125% (15 yr) @ 390K. payment = 2716.78. (If the rate was 3.375 (15yr) @ 390k payment=2764) $50/mo ...

All, Most of the advice in asset allocation books, message boards etc has been to do a small value tilt (if you really want to tilt). DFA makes a whole case for this and I have followed this blindly. I also remember reading that small growth is really not a good asset class to tilt towards. At a max...

Is there any reason why the govt limited the amount we can put into I-bond. They seem to be discouraging too much investments in it. I need to increase my bond allocation in AA and was thinking of putting some in I-bonds. My previous purchase was a long time ago and had a nice fixed rate (I think 1....

I have some old ESPP stock 1999 that I intend to sell. The cost basis tracked by the broker is all wrong and they won't change it. a) When I sell, the broker will not report my cost basis to IRS since its pre-2011. correct? b) In this case, I can write the correct amount in my cost basis. correct? s...

When you say your company "put" $xxx on your W2, what does that mean

True. W2 will include the money when RSU vest but in this case they also put the gain in W2. thats the $700 I mention below

I had some ESPP, RSU etc. that were put into UBS automatically by my company. I transferred them to wellsfargo brokerage (to save some trading cost). Wellsfargo automatically took the cost basis of the UBS specified cost basis. However, my company also put it on W2. Eg. UBS had 100 stock of RSU exer...

I recently solicied a prospectus from a company that claimed they were giving rate of return of ~7.5% per year. They invest in commercial mortgage notes , which are primarily federally gauranteed. Its operated as LLC with a 12month lock-up period a) How would this compare with REITs. Do REITs also l...

Yup...I think the funds fidelity 2035 in our 401k is different than the one typically offered. So thats why composition is different, I guess. In a way getting commodoties and hedge funds seems a good thing but I don't know how to track this...Its something I can't get exposure to otherwise. Perhaps...

My company is moving all our 401k into fidelity target funds (by default). Mine goes into target fund 2035 They have 25% into hedge funds 10% global bonds 5% commodities etc Should I run from this fund? Or should I feel happy that I am getting something that I normally would not get exposure to as a...

Cella
I don't want to put REIT in taxable. Otherwise there is no issue. Right ?

Seems diversification rebalance etc more imp than taxes.

say i want 50-50 REIT and S&P 500. Say I have 100K in retirment (RETI) and 100K in taxable (S&P 500). Now the S&P goes to 120K whereas 100K in REIT goes to 80k say. I can't sell my 20K in S&P ang put in REIT to perfectly balance. This assume no new contributions into retirment accoun...

In typ finance sites - google, yahoo etc. is the YTD return of MF inclusive of the dividend the fund distributes or not? For instance for REIT funds is it just NAV delta or includes the dividend returns

thx

What is the fidelity equivalent to visvx or is there anything in brokerage linkw which doesn' charge me transaction fee/monthly fee for an equivalent o visvx (VG small cap value)

thanks

Thanks marylandcrab

Yeah..my younger one won't leave our side so I am wondering what to do then...u can only hang out so much at the beach

we r thinking of cabo though - less flying time from california

We have 2 kids with a wide age gap - 3 and 8. We are wondering if it makes sense to do an all inclusive resport to mexico around thanksgiving/christmas. Just don't want to get into a rut of deciding where to take kids or what to do with them so if anyone went and had good experience with kids, would...

My bank teller told me this. You can take all the interest you earn on bank accounts. Figure out the tax you would pay on that interest and add that to your home mortgage tax deduction. So basically if you earn $100 in interest. Then 31% of $100 (Assuming thats your tax bracket) = $31 goes into sche...

As part of my plan to go paperless, I want to find a software to edit pds files

Basically if I download a file in pdf and want to put my notes in it, I have no solution right now. So I end up printing it and righting by pen which is not good.

I have a complicated tax question relating to sec 179 and auto deduction (if a car gets into a wreck)

Is there any good tax forums out there. I need 2nd opinion to what my CPA is saying and I need it fast since deadline is approaching.

thanks

I thought I had exposure to commodities but the increase in their prices is not making any difference to my networth. I put some % (<10) into USO and PCRIX a while ago precisely because of gaining exposure to this scenario. However, even though we are bombarded by high gas prices news and general co...

What is the process to follow if you have lots of retirement accounts and you need to re-balance. I have Fidelity 401k. My wife has fidelity 401k and we have 2 Roth IRAs with VG and inidividual 401k with Fidelity, as well as one consolidated taxable account. (Also 4 529 accounts because of kids). a)...

Trev H
Your ss was incredibly useful to me. Can you please update with 2009 and 2010.
Is there a way we can generate this ourself?

Actually my small cap is a little light as well though not much.I have too much cash and large cap

We don't have VTI in 401k.

If I put equal amounts in S&P 500 index and vand extended market index (vieix) is that equivalent

I want to attain 10% on EM and 5% on gld (gold) in my overall AA plan. I am almost 1/2 way there. Now I am scared of selling some of my other assets eg. large cap, which have had mediocre years and buying the EM/gld which have had quite banner years. I wish I had the reverse issue :-) So what does o...

Given the fact that taxes are not going up for ~2years does this mean we have a sell-off in the munis.
After all it has become less lucrative to own these funds now.

I am confused how to account for 529 assets into my overall AA plan I have ~10% of my assets in 529. Lets say I have 2mil total assets so 200k in 529. Should I include them in overall AA plan. Say I want 60% stocks and 40% bonds in my overall plan. Should my 529 also be 60% stocks and 40% bonds. I a...

Thanks everyone. It seems the consensus if you see big positive changes in your income in future years, it would make sense to just pay it all in 2010. I don't know what big changes are coming my way in terms of increasing salary etc. in future years. So I am just going to go with the spread out ove...

Due to the fact that income tax remains the same for the next 2 years, is there any benefit at all in paying the conversion taxes in 1 year (2010) vs spreading them over 2 years (2011,2012).

I got statements that my ordinary divided in 5600 and my qualified divided was 5400 So 5600 goes on line 9a And 5400 goes on line 9b That means my AGI increases by 5600? Ideally it should only increase by 200+15% of 5400 if I understand this correctly so where is the 75% of 5400 getting subtracted f...

I am looking to rebalance my portfolio.

Does anyone have any spreadsheet etc. showing the returns of various asset classes every year since say 2005.

If I look at VG data it shows YTD, 5yr, 10yr etc. whereas I am looking for return in 2010, 2009, 2008...

ETF data is fine ...

thanks

Hi Letsgobobby I am halfway where you are. Hopefully 2011 is my year :-) I essentially switched 20% of my portfolio from a taxable bank account paying 1% to a tax-deferred stable value fund paying 3.8% Can you please educate me on this. What is a stable value fund. Basically what does it invest in. ...

I have ETFs and Mutual funds at many different accounts and places due to employers, wellstrade etc is there any good place where we can see the updating every so often I use excel and use the MSN stock quotes. However, the problem is I have to go and manually edit each time I add or subtract funds ...

What do people think about VNQI. Has anyone invested in it. What kind of exposure per country is in it. I am interested in adding international real estate to portfolio. the thing that gives me pause is that it will give a lot of income (so better in retirement account) but then you can take foreign...

a) You are basing the assumption that I will only be able to invest 85% of my gains because of the 15% cap gain tax. However, I have so much losses carryover from last year that I am not in this situation. b) Did not understand your comment "Also if you have any capital loss carryovers from las...

My 401k has roth option. Before that I could only put in normal (ie non-Roth) 401k. I have this with fidelity How does fidelity know how much of the gain in my 401k is from my roth 401k money and how much is from non-Roth. For instance say I have 50k in 401k and this year I put in 16k into roth 401k...

A friend had this idea. Since cap gain tax rate might go up in the near future, his thinking is to sell all the stock he has gains with this year and just buy it back the very next day. The thinking is that this year you will only pay 15% cap gain. And you effectively get a stepped up basis for next...

I made a substantial IRA -> Roth conversion so I presume my income is going to be high this year. I am trying to figure out how to avoid penalty. Last year, I had to pay federal ~1K and got a refund from state ~$350. This is the amount by which my witholding differed from tax owed. In order to not p...

Ok, thanks I think I got it. For your bond AA only, if TIPS yield > Treasury yield + expected inflation then TIPS is a better buy than Treasury. This was just for my understanding. I believe I just got lucky 1.5 yrs ago because of the financial crisis, the Treasury yield must have really gone low so...

When I say I don't understand tips I mean the interplay between real and nominal yields. As I understand tips will have interest rate lower than treasury and the difference should be made up of perceived inflation. If I remember during the better times to invest in tips the difference was quite low ...

I made a mistake in that I had to sell my ~5% Asset allocation towards VIPSX since I was changing brokerages That is was ~6mo and I forgot to re-buy VIPSX equivalent in the new account (fidelity). Now, I am wondering is it still okay to buy VIPSX. I know this is not a market timing group and I appre...